Empire spoke to the great Darren Aronofsky the other day, when he came to town to show off The Wrestler at the LFF. Naturally, we tried to wrestle some info out of him on his forthcoming remake of RoboCop, for MGM.

“It's a real reinvention,” he told us, responding to those rumours that the movie would somehow follow on or be a direct sequel to Paul Verhoeven's 1987 original. “Me and David Self are working on the screenplay. He's a great, great writer and we're trying to do something new and fresh. We'll see what happens when the screenplay comes.”

He wouldn't be drawn, though, on which elements would be carried over from the cyberpunk classic, or if room would be made for the original Murphy – Peter Weller – to make a cameo.

“There'll be...” he started to say, before Prime Directive 4 (“classified”) kicked in and moved him onto safer, vaguer ground. “I'm a big fan of the original. It still holds up as an amazing film, and I think it's more just looking at that same type of material in the 21st century and seeing where it leads us.”

There are few remakes that excite Empire, but this is one of them. Aronofsky is a true visionary, and it's going to be fascinating to see what he can do with this material. We're guessing less splatter, more angst, but either way, it should be gold.

L: Mason Verger
L: The Hooded Man
The best news I have heard in a while. The last thing Aaronofsky needs is to sell out.
He was probably only doing it because he needed a commercial hit. The success of stlerthat he no longer needs to.
sp;
is he still up to direct or just produce? More

L: The Hooded Man
The best news I have heard in a while. The last thing Aaronofsky needs is to sell out.
sp;
He was probably only doing it because he needed a commercial hit. The success of stlerthat he no longer needs to. More

There is a segment from the Manga anime 'A.D. Police' where a similar cop-to-robot tranformation happens and the human brain starts to go crazy inside the mechanical body. The only thing he can do to 'feel' is to grind his human tongue between his teeth and eventually goes mental.
I think a similar sort of exceptionally dark concept would be very interesting to explore, but it shouldn't be called 'RoboCop'. More

L: Monkeyshaver
But Robocop IS a satire.
sp;
Paul Verhoeven's film a satire, and a great one (ditto Robocop 2) but I'd be interested in the story of a half machine half cop going in a different direction.
Not a remake though but a sequel. More

L: Tech_Noir
asterpiece, we all know that, but I still think there's loads of potential for interesting sequels.
I also don't see anything wrong with letting go of the satire and making it a dark horror/thriller.
Robocop IS a satire. & lets face it the powers that be don't want a dark horror/thriller they want as wide an audience as possible so this remake will probably be a heavily sanitised version. I can't imagine them having a little kid gangster running around with a gun k More

asterpiece, we all know that, but I still think there's loads of potential for interesting sequels.
I also don't see anything wrong with letting go of the satire and making it a dark horror/thriller. More

Well, that's a nice, optimistic approch. Unfortunately, all these pointless remakes smakck of , yes, yes, Hollywood running out of ideas, and whilst I understand that during the current economic climate, the movie 'business' needs to make more safe money making movies, like the Michael Bay type blockbusters.
RoboCop is a perfectly structured movie and is a perfect example of the '80s uber-violent cyber punk genre and has no need to be updated. The chances that Aronifsky has dr More

L: Mr Terrific
Making a remake is an easy option, built in fanbase, throw in formulaic trailer with things blowing up and stuff et volia....bums on seats.
igh. I agree with that part of your point. MY point is:
Robocop - Directed by Uwe Boll = no bums on seats, no matter how 'safe' the franchise.
Robocop - Directed by Darren Aronofsky = much more bums on seats than if you'd hired the above bum instead...
You see? Safe franchises and properties I can see.&n More

GINAL: Mr Terrific
quote:
They're probably going to hire in a complete hack to make a shit film that's completely un-necessary anyway. This got greenlit just after Iron Man cleaned up in the summer.
Not an unreasonable prediction, studio's want a guaranteed moneymaker in this time of economic woe. Making money off the back of an original film has been done before....Wicker Man anybody? "Shit hack" may be harsh, but they'll deffo go for one who will go w More

L: KeithM
Making a hack job remake only makes sense when the market is buoyant - when people can afford to see lots of films, so even crummy ones get a chance of being seen.
sp;
I don't know Keith, according to this segment on Talking Movies over the weekend when people are short on cash they're less likely to a risk on their cinema viewing, so the bland and predictable make profit. More

L: Mr Terrific
probably going to hire in a complete hack to make a shit film that's completely un-necessary anyway. This got greenlit just after Iron Man cleaned up in the summer. ot an unreasonable prediction, studio's want a guaranteed moneymaker in this time of economic woe. Making money off the back of an original film has been done before....Wicker Man anybody? "Shit hack" may be harsh, but they'll deffo go for one who will go with what the studio wants and not rock the boat.
o More

probably going to hire in a complete hack to make a shit film that's completely un-necessary anyway. This got greenlit just after Iron Man cleaned up in the summer. ot an unreasonable prediction, studio's want a guaranteed moneymaker in this time of economic woe. Making money off the back of an original film has been done before....Wicker Man anybody? "Shit hack" may be harsh, but they'll deffo go for one who will go with what the studio wants and not rock the boat.
More

RoboCop is a perfect '80's actioneeir and sci-fi, Cyberpunk classic. It's perfect and doesn't need to be remade. Period. They're probably going to hire in a complete hack to make a shit film that's completely un-necessary anyway. This got greenlit just after Iron Man cleaned up in the summer. More

L: BatFan
L: Mason Verger
t="trebuchet ms"]ky Quitting r]ink]
I hope it's true to be honest. Even though an Aronofsky directed Robocop would be something I would go and see, It's not exact;y needed and Verhoven's version is a classic. I'd much rather see Aronofsky direct The Fighter.
sp;
I would have been interested in a Aronofsky Robocop sequel. Would have been interesting. More

Really do not need this no matter how good Darren is. The idea fills me with dread to be quite honest. Rewatched the original a few weeks back and suprised by how good it was after all these years. The sequels were bad in fact the third is so awful -Robocop flying-ninja robots-that I thought it killed the franchise for good.
Weren't Verhoven interested in doing a sequel a few years back. I remember reading in Empire an idea he had and it was quite cool about Roboc More

L: Mason Verger
t="trebuchet ms"]ky Quitting r]ink]
sp;
I hope it's true to be honest. Even though an Aronofsky directed Robocop would be something I would go and see, It's not exact;y needed and Verhoven's version is a classic. I'd much rather see Aronofsky direct The Fighter. More

Personally, I am disappointed that the producers of the "Terminator" franchise never had the sense to buy the rights to "Robocop" a few years ago. Frank Miller wrote a wonderful "Robocop v Terminator" mini-series comic book years ago. This would make a terrific film (although they may need to change the ending - as it had too many Robocops and no involvement of John Connor). More

I'm really not sure Robocop needs 'reinventing'. It holds up very well today and has just the right balance between satire and action. I can't see where they can take the franchise that will be new without losing the charm. More

Sounds great, I've always admired Aronofsky's work but I would have thought he'll approach Frank Miller to help him write the script since the two of them worked on the now abandoned Batman: Year One adaptation and Miller wrote the first Robocop sequel. But since he has said it's going to be a total reivention I imagine he will not be adopting Verheoven's satirical edge. More

Instead of remaking the original, couldn't he just do another sequel, and pretend like the other sequels don't exist? I am excited by Aronofsky's work, but Robocop? I'm not sure he's the man for the job, and the cast of the original are so perfect i don't see it working. But saying that, i'll still watch it More

uessing less splatter, more angst,fully not but that’s probably going to be right. Another blockbuster full of character angst & oh so human flaws etc to the detriment of fun action movie stuff. BORING!!! More